Newspaper sentiment, even among those journals that would soon move into
opposition, was initially favorable to Roosevelt and the New Deal. After applauding Roosevelt's early moves, the Washington Posttribune opposed indications that
Congress might adjourn as soon as the emergency banking bill was passed.
Psychologically the country was "in a mood for leadership. It wants action, and
fears delay and uncertainty more than anything else." A congressional recess
might undermine the confidence created by Roosevelt's initial bold actions.
Instead, Roosevelt should lay his program before Congress and, if it were
"adopted with cooperation and dispatch," the effect on the country would be
"electrifying."
1 Similarly, the Chicago Tribune wrote that it was the responsibility of Congress to show "unity in the effective support and expeditious
advancement of [Roosevelt's] program. He has accepted responsibility. He has
asked for adequate powers to act as the emergency requires. The country supports
that demand."
2

This early support for Roosevelt's program, however, assumed that the broad
grant of powers sought by the president was to be used to effect the platform
of the Democratic Party, which had called for economy in government, a balanced
budget, and, implicitly, the maintenance of the gold standard. When the course
of the Roosevelt program began to deviate from the platform on which he had
been elected, newspaper support began to ebb. The New York Herald-Tribune
complained when Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard, despite
the fact that the Treasury had ample supplies of the metal.
3 The Washington Post was disappointed when it appeared Roosevelt was about to negate his $500

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